Miter guide box



March 10, 1964 MCCLOUD 3,124,175

MITER GUIDE BOX Filed Jan. 23, 1961 ll Fig,

Fig. 3. i

INVENTOR. DONALD E. M CLOUD BY [aria W4 wamamww Ahorngus United StatesPatent Ofifice 3,124,175 Patented Mar. 10, 1964 3,124,175 l /HTER GUKDEBGX Donald E. MeClond, 1322 E. Vermont St., Indianapolis,

Ind, assignor of one-half to Jehu D. Stafiord, Southport, Ind.

Filed Jan. 23, 1961, Ser. No. 84,257 1 Claim. (Cl. 143-6) The presentinvention relates to a miter box or miter guide particularly adapted foruse with a powered hand saw at a building site or the like.

It is well known that powered hand saws such as circular or rotary sawsare quite a bit faster to use than the conventional manually poweredreciprocating saw but, generally speaking, can be used only forrelatively rough work. Accuracy can be produced by the use of the miterbox with a manually powered reciprocating saw, however, there is notpresently available such a miter box or guide for use with a power saw.Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a miterbox capable of use with a powered hand saw.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a miter boxcapable of improving the accuracy of powered hand saws.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a miter box which isrelatively inexpensive and yet is capable of insuring great accuracy.

Related objects and advantages will become apparent as the descriptionproceeds.

One embodiment of the present invention comprises a miter box includinga container having parallel internal mutually facing walls. A pair ofWedges are received between the walls and have equal apex anglespointing in opposite directions. Each of these wedges has one side inengagement with the other wedge and the other side located in parallelrelation to the internal walls of the container. The wedges are arrangedso that the outwardly facing, wedging surfaces bear against one of theinternal walls and against a work piece received within the container.There is also provided a guide secured to the container for guiding asaw during cutting of the work piece.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from theaccompanying drawings and the following description and claim:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a miter box constructed according to thepresent invention, the dotted lines show- .ing the position of a powersaw during use of the miter box of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an end elevation of the structure illustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the structure of FIG. 1 showing theopposite side of the miter box and showing the miter box in a differentoperating position.

For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of theinvention, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated inthe drawing and specific language will be used to describe the same. Itwill neverltheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of theinvention is thereby intended, such alterations and furthermodifications in the illustrated device, and such further applicationsof the principles of the invention as illustrated therein beingcontemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to whichthe invention relates.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, there is illustrated amiter box which includes a pair of parallel elongated elements and 11which may be formed of wood and which each have a generally rectangularcross section with a groove 12 and 13 in the mutually facing surfaces 15and 16 thereof. The grooves 12 and 13 extend longitudinally of theelongated elements centrally along the faces 15 and 16 and receive asheet of pressed hardwood material 17, for example, peg board or thelike, which extends between the two elongated elements.

Secured to the opposite sides 20 and 21 of the elongated elements 10 and11 are a pair of guides 22 and 23, the guide 22 having a triangularshape as illustrated in FIG. 1 and the guide 23 having a U-shape asillustrated in FIG. 3. The guides 22 and 23 may be formed of pressedhardwood material such as is commonly referred to as Masonite. A pair ofWedges 25 and 26 may be received within either of the guides and thecentral sheet of material 17. The wedges have equal apex angles formedby their bearing surfaces 24-, 27, 28 and 29, and therefore, theiroutwardly facing bearing surfaces 24 and 29 are parallel to one another.It should be noted that the thickness of the wedges 25 and 26 is equalto the dis tance between the central sheet 17 and either of the guides22 or 23. For this reason, the outward faces of the wedges are always inalignment either with the sides 20 of the elongated elements 10 and 11to which guide 22 is attached or the sides to which the guide 23 isattached.

The triangular shaped guide 22 may have any desired angle between itsguiding surfaces 30 and 31 and those surfaces may have any desired anglewith respect to the length of the elongated elements 10 and 11. In theillustrated embodiment, the angle between the surfaces 30 and 31 isdegrees and the angle of both of those surfaces with respect to thelength of the elongated elements is 45 degrees. For this reason, a workpiece such as the baseboard material 32 will be cut at a 45 degree anglewhen a power hand saw 33 is used in the manner illustrated in FIG. 1. Itshould be noted that in using the saw, the base 34 of the saw is guidedby faces 20 of the elongated elements and also by the faces of thewedges 25 and 26 which are in alignment with the faces 20 as well as theguide 22.

Referring to FIG. 3, the opposite side of the miter box is used inexactly the same manner as the side illustrated in FIG. 1. The wedges 25and 26 are operated to lock the work piece 35 in position and the base33 of the saw is guided by the U-shaped element 23. It can beappreciated that the outside surfaces 36 and 37 of the legs of theU-shaped element are in perpendicular relation to the length of theelongated elements and as a result, the work piece 35 will be cut offperpendicularly to its length.

It can be appreciated that the guides 22 and 23 function to hold themiter box together. More particularly the guides have therethroughscrews 40 which extend into the elongated elements to maintain them inspaced parallel relation. Preferably, at least some of the screws 40also extend into the sheet hardwood material 17 to maintain it fixed inposition relative to the elongated elements.

For the above reasons, it can be appreciated that the present inventionprovides a miter box capable of use with a powered hand saw. It can alsobe appreciated that the present invention provides a miter box which maybe relatively inexpensively constructed but which is capable ofproviding desired accuracy.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in thedrawings and foregoing description, the same is to be considered asillustrative and not restrictive in character, it being understood thatonly the preferred embodiment has been shown and described and that allchanges and modifications that come Within the spirit of the inventionand the scope of the claim are also desired to be protected.

The invention claimed is:

A miter box comprising a pair of elongated members of rectangular crosssection, said members being arranged in parallel relation and havingmutually facing surfaces which are grooved along their length, a sheetof material received in said grooves and extending between saidelements, a triangularly shaped guide secured to said elongated memberson one side thereof in parallel relation to said sheet of material, aU-shaped guide secured to said elongated members on the opposite sidethereof in parallel relation to said sheet of material, saidtriangularly shaped guide having sides arranged at forty-five degreeangles to the length of said elements, said U-shaped guide having sidesarranged at ninety degree angles to the length of said elements.

UNITED STATES PATENTS Bartlett July 16, Frazier Feb. 12, Douglas Nov.30, Denyer Apr. 26, Avery May 6, Kearney May 12, Neilson June 14,

FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain May 6,

